Plimmon h



(No Model.)

-P. H. DUDLEY.

RAILWAY SPIKE.

No. 362,208. Patented May 8, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PLIMMON H. DUDLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

RAILWAY-SPIKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 362,208, dated May 3,1887.

Application filed December 23, 1886. Serial No. 222,374. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PLIMMON H. DUDLEY, of the city and county of NewYork, in the State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Railway- Spikes, of which the following is aspecification.

When railway-spikes of the ordinary rectangular transversesection aredriven into solid wood the fibers of the wood are distorted and injuredto an extentwhich greatly lessens the adhesion or hold of the spike inthe wood, and increases the liability of the wood to decay. Byexperiment I 1 have found that by boring holes in the ties and using aspike of peculiar form the rails will be more securely held in placethan heretofore, and that the liability of the wood to early decayaround the spike will be greatly reduced. Y

The invention consists in a railwayspike having a body of substantiallycircular or round transverse section throughout nearly its entirelength, the back of the spike being semicircular or half-round clear tothe head, but having immediately belowthe head aflattened or flat frontsurface for bearing against the railfiange. I also preferably form thewedgeshaped point of the spike with its faces concaved lengthwise of thespike or formed with the curve of least resistance, as the spike maythen be more easily driven.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of a spikeembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line a: m,Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar section on the line y 3 Fig. 1, and Fig. 4is a similar section illustrating a slight modification of my invention.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

A designates the body and B the head of the spike,which is,asusual,adapted to overlap the rail-flange.

In all cases the body A will be substantially circular or round intransverse section throughout the principal front portion of its length,excepting in the portion immediately below the head B, where the body isflattened or flat, as shown at b, in order to give the spike a broadbearing against the edge of the railflange. The length of such flattenedor flat bearing-surface Z) may be from three fourths of an inch to oneinch, or thcreabout, and below the point I) the body is truly orsubstantially round or circular.

The body of the spike at the back is substantially half-roundersemicircular from the head to the point.

In Figs. 1 and 3 Ihave represented the front of the body as polygonalthroughout half of its circumference, such portion being shown as ofoctagonal form. I may, however, make the entire body from the point bdownward of truly circular form, as shownin Fig. 4.,and, even ifit bepolygonal, the polygon will be of such a number of sides as will givethe bodya substantially circular or round form, as distinguished fromthe ordinary square or rectangular spike. In other words,lalways makethe body of such form as will cause it to fill a bored hole into whichthe spike is driven, and to produce a substantially uniform degree ofadhesion of the wood upon the spike around its entire circumference.

Instead of making the faces 0 0, which constitute the wedge-shaped pointof the spike, fiat or straight longitudinally or slightly convex,as isusual, I make such surfaces concave longitudinally or lengthwise of thespike, and thereby enable the spike to more readily enter the Wood. I

\Vhen a spike of the form described is driven into a previously-formedhole bored slightly smaller than the spike, the hole will be completelyfilled and water will be prevented from entering. I may, in order topreserve the wood, fill or partly fill the hole with paint or chemicalsbefore driving the spike, as described in my pending application No.222,375, filed of even date herewith.

It is important to make the back of the spike substantially semicircularor half-round clear to the head, because there are then no corners whichbreak down the wood at the back or outer side of the spike-hole andadmit water, which hastens decay. The corners at the front side of thespike are unavoidable, because of the fiat surface b; but such cornersare covered by the flange of the rail, andI dispense with any corners atthe back of the spike which will break down the wood and admit water.

I am aware that a chisel-pointed spike is not new, but believe thatheretofore all such IOC spikes have had the faces of their points flatand true converging planes. The faces of my spike-point are concavelengthwise of the spike, and therefore the point more readily enters thewood;

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The railwayspike herein described, having a body of substantiallycircular or round transverse section throughout nearly the entirelength, the back of the spike being semicircular or half-round clear tothe head but having immediately below the head a flattened or flat frontsurface, 6, for bearing against the rail-flange substantially as hereinset forth.

P. H. DUDLEY.

Vitnesses:

O. HALL, FREDK. HAYNES.

